One day left..

Tuesday, middle day of the cycle and again, it feels as if I’ve been here 100 hours already… Geesh! It’s been another one of those typical “staffing” days. EMT-I class, HTR training and who knows what else. Anyway, we marked the Engine out of service all day. Coon and Joe rode the box while the Officers traveled. Yea, both of us. Eugene went to Lucky 13 while I rode down at “The Deuce”. Fun Fun. Things finally settled down and I got back here to “never never” land around 18:00 (that’s 6pm for all you non-firemen types lol). So then it was catch up on paperwork etc… again you can imagine just how happy and excited I am right now. Anyways, all that means is that I’ve gotten ZERO pics for tonight’s post and that should make this one short and sweet. I mentioned Eugene went to Lucky #13 today and his chief assignment was to fret the crap out of Captain Martin. Well guess what?? He did! It just so happens that today is Clayton’s birthday. WOW!! 62 years old and still partying like an animal… LOL …if they put candles on the cake I know it was the most fire he’s seen in years…well since his last birthday anyway LOL. NO all kidding aside, Clayton is the Capt. of Ladder #13 here on C-shift and a good and long time friend. Clayton worked several years with my dad down at old #1 and since then has been assigned on shifts with me throughout the years. He’s always been a “go getter” and a heck of a fireman. Here are a few shots of him…This is me and him “talking it over” after a good knock down by the brothers from E5. (pic by Mikey Overacker). Here’s another of Clayton in action from the tip of Ladder #2. This was a parking lot I made back in 2002 from the “REAL” Engine #3. WOW… talk about “Iron firemen”…. No mask.. yea yea I know. In today’s fire service it’s more “stupid” than “Iron” but I guess back then we just didn’t know better. I will say that since then we have both learned to wear our SCBA in all IDLH atmospheres. And hey, who knows? It may even add a few years to our pensions. Anyway, those pics were all from Mikey Overacker and none really showed Claytons face very well so here are just a couple more for those of you who don’t know him… HAPPY BIRTHDAY Clayton! I believe it’s 52 instead of the 62 I posted above. OK, moving on. Rhett has indeed made it back home from FDIC. Lucky dog! I’ve always wanted to go myself. Anyway, I was catching up on his adventures up there over on Fire Critic. For those of you who don’t know, Rhett is also co-running a site named Firefighter netcast where he and his partner John Mitchel of Fire Daily produce live “pod casts”. They have some really good guest on various fire related subjects. You can also call in and be part of the show yourself. It makes for some really good discussions / debates and is well worth a listen. Anyway, I was very impressed with how professional and CALM Rhett sounded from FDIC. I mean I knew he was an “Arthur” but a broadcaster??? Whoda thunk it? Not me because I’ve seen him on the job. A real “Nervous Norton” this guy. I remember him coming to work with us back when we were at #9. Becky had packed is lunch, made sure he had granola bars and water and even made him a little back pack with clean undies and extra socks… everything he’d need to work with a band of “misfits”. LOL yea right! I thought he was some kid running his paper route that day. I mean just look at him. Scared to death. Like a kid getting on the school bus or something LOL. Needless to say, we fretted the poop out of him that day. Blew him up twice and that was just the beginning.. .By days end, he was worn out. Poor little fella… And now here he is trying to pass himself off as some “broadcasting” media mogul! The “Oprah” of the fire service?? Who’s he think he’s kidding? “Boob signings” and “booth babes” my butt! Seriously… he doesn’t even look old enough to work for the fire department OK OK.. Rhett knows I’m just busting balls here. We are actually very close friends and Rhett has been a huge help in my blogging adventures. All kidding aside, Rhett has been very busy with and doing a great job of publishing and promoting his multi media projects. He runs several web sites and blogs as well as “picture book” and “churp churp” acounts(that’s Face Book and Twitter for you computer geeks). I guess I’m just going to have to pick it up a little around here in an effort to keep up or at least not br ing embarrassment to our house our his media empire. That said, I’m in the process of streaming to “Picture Book” so you guys can follow more easily. I should have it up and going by next day and will let you know for sure when it’s done. As of now, you can search “Ironfiremen.com” and should be able to make a friend request. Just bear with me another day or so and I’ll have it up and going. OK, to finish up tonight I wanted to leave you with another recent fire pic. Again this one is from “B-shift” and NO.. 3 Engine was NOT there. What I like about this photo is the IMS (incident management system) example. Here is a Battalion Chief (now Battalion 1B formally Battalion 1C)and a Senior Captain exhibiting IMS at its best. They have all the bases covered..errr well all “directions” covered anyway.. I need you “north”… now you go “south”..you there..hey head “west”. A “blitz attack” surround it and ambush from all sides right “Lucky”. LOL Let me see your “war face”! Ha ha.. alright alright. The man nearest, facing us; is Captain Chris Trussler also know to me as “Lucky”. Well, as fate would have it, being I transfered to “The Deuce” this morning; I got to see and talk a bit with Lucky as he was coming off duty. He mentioned my comment which referenced him when I blogged about the cracked windshield on Engine #3 the other week. The conversation brought us to some recent pics and this one in particular. We had a few good laughs over it this morning and I thought you would too. I understand our brothers and sisters from B-shift did a heck of a job over there as did the Incident commanders. I’ll tell some Trussler stories here some day…I have a ton of em and you’ll die laughing. Anyway, that’s enough for tonight. I’m back on Thursday for our final day of the cycle. Until then, stay safe and in house… Captain Wines